Muse Research & Development has announced the availability of Receptor QU4TTRO ($2,999) and Receptor TRIO ($2,499), the latest additions to its line of dedicated hardware plug-in players.
Receptor QU4TTRO, the company's fourth-generation, top-of-the-line model, is designed for demanding studio applications, film/TV/Game composers, and touring bands wishing to simultaneously process keyboards, guitars, and/or vocals. It is powered by a fastest-in-class 3.9GHz (peak) Quad-Core Intel processor and is equipped with 16GB of RAM and a 2TB 7200 RPM hard drive (or optional 256GB or 512GB SSD) to run the most demanding virtual instruments and effects.
The more affordable Receptor TRIO also features a Quad-Core Intel processor — only slightly slower than its big brother, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive (or optional 256GB or 512GB SSD).
Receptor QU4TTRO and Receptor TRIO are designed to tackle even the most demanding software synthesis and advanced signal processing tasks thanks to proprietary Tetra-Core threading and load balancing technology that prioritizes musical tasks over all others and optimizes available processing resources to extract maximum performance. In turn, this allows the system to run more demanding plug-ins at lower latencies.
Supporting the new Tetra-Core processing engine is a 64-bit operating system featuring Intellibridge technology to provide simultaneous support for 32- and 64-bit plug-ins. Users can run large, multi-gigabyte sample libraries that occupy more than 4GB of RAM while still running their favourite 32-bit plug-ins at the same time.
The extra RAM is also useful in Receptor's "Live Mode", a proprietary performance feature for preloading virtual set lists (up to the limits of the available RAM) and moving instantly from preset to preset while onstage.
Receptor QU4TTRO and Receptor TRIO come bundled with over $900 USD of software plug-ins, including pianos, synths, and running the gamut from guitar amp models to vocal harmonizers. The sonic possibilities can be easily expanded as both new models now ship with Native Instrument's Komplete 9 and Komplete 9 Ultimate pre-installed and ready for evaluation and authorization.
Integration into a performance or recording environment is designed to be easier thanks to the bundled PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL 24-bit/96K USB 2.0 Recording Interface. This pairing provides both models with eight analogue inputs and outputs, eight ADAT optical digital inputs and outputs, a stereo S/PDIF digital input and output, and digital word clock output for integration with other digital audio devices. This 18- channel I/O count allows users to send individual instruments to their own dedicated outputs, process multiple independent streams of audio, or simultaneously process guitars, vocals, basses, and other instruments while generating sounds using virtual instruments.